hydrometer

[pbdist]

Hello,

I am a first time wine maker. I am trying to make a merlot and a pinot grigio. I started the fermentation stage 9 days ago. I keep the buckets in my basement which is between 67-70 degrees. I never took a hydrometer reading when I started but wanted to see if it was time for my first racking. I took a sample of the wines and put the red in the tube and then the hydrometer, it sunk to the bottom of the tube. I tried the white and the same thing happened. I tried with just water and the meter floated with a reading of 1.01. Am I just rushing the wine? Am I using the meter wrong? The air stoppers have stopped bubbling. Should I just rack it anyway? Is the temparture in my basement to cold? Any comments for this first time wine maker would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Bryan

 

[summersolstice]

Your hydrometer is calibrated correctly since water should show 1.00 at 60F. Put enough wine in the tube to float your hydrometer. Some of the hydrometer should be showing above the liquid and your wine should read about .994 if it's finished fermenting. Nine days should be plenty of time to rack to your secondary, hopefully a sanitized carboy, regardless of what the hydrometer says. I generally rack at about 1.000 but a couple of hundredths either way won't matter that much.